


Juxtaposition

by predilection



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-02-01 00:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12693402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Koda and Phillip's relationship is more complex than it seems.





	Juxtaposition

**Author's Note:**

> TFW you have an idea for a story but it takes you two years to actually write it.
> 
> TFW you need to post a story so you'll stop nit-picking it.
> 
> TFW you love a pairing and hope you did it justice.
> 
> (Warning: A character throws up at some point.)

It's such a small thing that Shelby almost doesn't notice it the first time it happens.

At the end of a very long shift at the Dino Bite Café, she's thinking about how happy she is that they're about to close. She's waiting for her last table of the day to leave when she sees Koda slide into a booth on the other side of the room, two milkshakes in hand. What catches her attention is that he's smiling brighter than he has been lately, and it isn't until he pushes the second milkshake across the table that she even notices who Koda's with. 

To her surprise, it's Prince Phillip, sharply dressed in a fitted grey suit, and he's smiling back at Koda as he takes the milkshake from him. She's tired from being on her feet all day and from dealing with irate customers, so she's half-sure she imagines the way their fingers brush for longer than they need to when Koda hands off the milkshake.

Her attention is pulled away when the customers at her last table finally get to their feet. She glances back towards their booth later, but Phillip is sitting by himself and Koda is elsewhere helping Riley stack chairs. There's evidence, though, of what she saw. Phillip is still nursing a milkshake, and resting on his table is Koda's empty glass.

*

Truth be told, Shelby wouldn't have thought much about them having milkshakes together -- after all, she's shared milkshakes with pretty much everyone on their team without it having meant something -- but then it happens again. 

This time, it's after Phillip is hit by a blast from some kind of cactus monster. By the time they get him back to their base and onto a cot, he looks like he's come down with the flu. His face is shiny with sweat, he's warm to the touch, and his breath is rasping through his throat.

After running all kinds of tests on him, Kendall concludes he's been poisoned, and then Shelby spends the next two hours helping her synthesize an antidote. The others hover around Phillip worriedly, helping him out of his suit jacket, vest, and shoes, so she doesn't think much about the fact that Koda's with them.

She only starts paying attention to Koda after the antidote has been administered and starts to take effect. Phillip's breathing improves almost immediately and his body relaxes. Kendall orders Phillip to spend the night in the base hooked up to monitors for observation.

Shelby's packing up her stuff and getting ready to leave when she sees Koda rub his hand over Phillip's sweat-soaked forehead, brushing back the hair that's sticking to it. He's staring down at Phillip with something more than worry -- something that she doesn't quite understand.

"Koda?" she asks.

"I stay with him," he says, and when he finally tugs his eyes away from Phillip to look up at her, the expression she saw is gone. "So he not alone."

"That's good of you, Koda," she tells him, and a few minutes later, as she makes her way to the door, she notices that Koda has piled up furs on the floor so he can sleep next to Phillip's cot. 

She ends up staring at them for a moment. Phillip looks out of place and oddly vulnerable. It's not just that he's a prince on lying on a cot on their base's floor. It's also that he's usually the immaculately dressed and styled picture of royalty, but now he's stripped down to dress pants and an unbuttoned shirt, his socked feet sticking out over the end of the cot. His hair is dark with sweat and pieces of it are standing up every which way.

While she's watching, Koda curls up on the furs on the floor and takes one Phillip's hands in his own. That too adds to the picture of something being out of place. Koda offering comfort isn't strange or unexpected, but the juxtaposition of their fallen prince next to their time-traveling caveman tucked under plush furs is enough to give her further pause.

*

The third time it happens is when there's a carnival in town. 

Kendall is initially hesitant about Phillip going, worried about the press asking questions they don't want to answer, but Phillip promises that he can come with them without drawing any attention to himself. Kendall is skeptical, and so is Shelby until Phillip meets them in front of the ticket booth the next morning. He looks so unlike himself that she doesn't recognize him until Koda runs up to him shouting, "Mean prince!"

Phillip's ever-present tailored suits are nowhere to be found. Instead, he's wearing sneakers, dark jeans, and a long-sleeved black shirt that has holes in it that let his thumbs peek through. The clothing makes him look leaner, smaller, and generally less imposing than he usually does. 

It's not only his clothing that's different. His hair has been styled down into side swept bangs, and he's wearing a baseball cap to hide the rest of his hair.

He doesn't look anything like Prince Phillip of Zandar. Instead, he looks like just another Amber Beach resident ready to enjoy their day at the carnival.

Soon after they get inside, Shelby ends up explaining how the carnival works to both Phillip and Koda. She finds it interesting that despite their very different backgrounds, neither of them know much about the games, the prizes, or the rides.

Koda becomes enamoured with a game that involves hitting a small round platform with a giant mallet. The harder the platform is hit, the more lights on a tall board behind the platform turn on. The more lights turn on, the bigger the prize. 

They all cheer Koda on as he picks up the mallet, and they all end up laughing when he makes the poor attendant's eyes go comically wide by hitting the platform with such force that the whole board lights up. It declares Koda a winner of the biggest prize they have: a giant blue stuffed elephant.

Koda asks what the stuffed elephant does, and Chase explains with a wink that many people give large prizes to the people they fancy.

Later in the day, Shelby's distracted by Tyler winning a not-quite-as-large stuffed tiger and giving it to her, so she almost misses it when Koda hands his stuffed elephant to Phillip. Phillip's smile is soft when he accepts it from him, and no one else seems to notice or find it noteworthy that Phillip carries it around on his shoulders for the rest of the day.

*

The next time it happens is when Koda gets food poisoning. 

He starts looking sick during a ranger meeting, and before it ends, Koda's losing his lunch. It's not pretty and just the sight of it makes her feel nauseous too.

But Phillip is at Koda's side almost immediately. He doesn't seem remotely worried about his leather shoes getting too close to the mess. In fact, he takes her completely off-guard when he stands behind Koda's left side and uses both his hands to pull Koda's long hair back from his face.

He just stands there, his fingers slowly combing through Koda's hair, as Chase runs to get a bucket and Tyler rushes off to get a mop. He's still standing with Koda when Shelby returns from the kitchen with a glass of water. 

Later, when Koda's sleeping in his room, she finds Phillip sitting near him, his back to the wall of the cave, watching him. If it wasn't for the other times she'd seen them interact, she'd probably find it peculiar that he was there, but instead she's starting to understand that for them, maybe this isn't peculiar at all.

*

It's months later when she's invited to Zandar. All of them are, but only she, Ivan, Kendall and Koda actually go, everyone else staying behind to watch over the city. 

She learns a lot the first day of their trip. She learns that Koda has a Zandarian passport -- which makes sense when she thinks about the fact that he didn't have any identification a year ago -- and that Ivan can still give tours of the royal gardens because they've only changed slightly over the last few centuries.

She also learns that Phillip has his own suite in the palace, which contain his office, his living area and kitchen, his room, and multiple guest rooms. They are each given a guest room of their own to stay in and Shelby's is fancier than any place she's ever been to. Phillip's whole suite is opulent, but it's also empty and lonely in a way she can't quite describe.

She finds it hard to sleep the first night she's there, so she gets up and decides to take a walk. The living area is empty but there's light coming from the open door to Phillip's office. Thinking Phillip's still working, she walks towards it.

She pauses in the doorway, her hand raised to knock on the doorframe.

Koda is sitting on the edge of Phillip's big wooden desk. He's wearing playful smirk on his face as he pulls Phillip towards him so he's standing between his legs. Phillip goes to him easily, like they've done this before, and for a moment, they just stare at each other, smiling. 

She's not sure which one of them moves first, only that they both lean into each other and that the next thing she knows, they're kissing.

She stands there, frozen, until they pull apart, the sound of them laughing joyfully snapping her back to reality. Then she turns on her heel as quickly and quietly as she can. 

As she makes her way back to her room, she's only surprised by how surprised she isn't, and she thinks about how genuinely happy she is for them both.

*

The next morning at breakfast with Ivan and Kendall, Ivan informs them that Koda isn't in his room. Kendall starts to worry that he might be roaming the castle. She suggests that they should search for him, which is the only reason Shelby tells them that she thinks she knows where he is and volunteers to get him.

She finds Koda sleeping on a couch in the living area half-lying on top of Phillip, his head resting against Phillip's shoulder and Phillip's arm around his back, holding him close. With the way they're intertwined, there's no mistaking the intimacy between them.

Phillip is awake when she enters the room, and he startles, lifting his head to look at her. Though he seemed peaceful a moment ago, there's a tension in him now, something coiled and ready to strike.

"Kendall and Ivan were looking for Koda," she explains. "They were worried about him."

She can tell he's studying her, watching her face for something, and his tone and expression are guarded when he asks, "Are you worried about him?"

She takes a moment to consider what he's asking -- what he's _really_ asking -- and she's glad she's the one who found them -- that she can answer without surprise or shock influencing her response. She shakes her head. "I have no reason to be," she replies, and she finds herself smiling when she adds, "He's in good hands."

Phillip continues to stare at her for a few seconds, but then he lets out a deep breath and his whole body relaxes. He closes his eyes and turns his head so that his nose brushes against Koda's hair.

When he looks back at her, there's still a wariness to him, like he's waiting for her to say something or ask the obvious questions. But though she's curious, she has no interest in pushing either of them to answer how they got together or why they're hiding their relationship. She figures that they have their reasons and that they'll share their story in their own time. 

"Breakfast is on the table if you want to join us," Shelby tells him instead, her smile still in place.

Phillip eyes her a moment longer and then, realizing that's all she's going to say, snorts in what is either relief or amusement or perhaps both. His caution visibly fades and he offers her a small smile of his own. "We'll be there," he says, and then softly adds, "Thank you."

She nods in understanding, and turns away from them, slipping back through the door.


End file.
